Tenerife South Airport Explained

Tenerife South Airport
Nativename:Aeropuerto de Tenerife Sur
Nativename-R:Tenerife Sur Airport - GCTS
Image2-Width:250
Iata:TFS
Icao:GCTS
Type:Public
Owner-Oper:Aena
City-Served:Tenerife
Location:Granadilla de Abona
Elevation-F:209
Elevation-M:64
Website:https://www.aena.es/en/tenerife-sur.html
Pushpin Map:Canary Islands
Pushpin Label:TFS
Pushpin Map Caption:Location in the Canary Islands
Metric-Elev:yes
Metric-Rwy:yes
R1-Number:07/25
R1-Length-F:10,498
R1-Length-M:3,200
R1-Surface:Asphalt
Stat-Year:2019
Stat1-Header:Passengers
Stat1-Data:11,168,506
Stat2-Header:Passenger change 18-19
Stat2-Data: 1.1%
Stat3-Header:Movements
Stat3-Data:70,277
Stat4-Header:Movements change 18-19
Stat4-Data: 0.5%
Stat5-Header:Cargo (t)
Stat5-Data:2,188
Footnotes:Sources: Passenger Traffic, AENA http://www.aena.es/es/aeropuerto-tenerife-sur/presentacion.html[1]
Spanish AIP, AENA[2]

Tenerife South Airport (Spanish; Castilian: Aeropuerto de Tenerife Sur), also known as Tenerife South - Reina Sofía Airport,[3] is the larger of the two international airports located on the island of Tenerife (the other being Tenerife North Airport) and the second busiest in the Canary Islands (after Gran Canaria Airport).

It is located in the municipality of Granadilla de Abona and handled over 11 million passengers in 2018. Combined with Tenerife North Airport, the island gathers the highest passenger movement of all the Canary Islands, with 12,248,673 passengers,[4] surpassing Gran Canaria Airport.

History

In the late 1960s, the island authorities of Tenerife found the need for a second airport at a new location, because the existing airport (then called "Los Rodeos Airport"), now known as Tenerife North–Ciudad de La Laguna Airport, did not meet technical requirements due to adverse weather conditions, especially low visibility in foggy conditions; this was exemplified by the events of what became the deadliest aviation accident in history, when in 1977, two Boeing 747s collided on the runway at Los Rodeos, killing 583 people, in part, due to very low visibility.

Only 20 months later, with the disaster still fresh in people's minds, the new airport was inaugurated on 6 November 1978, by Queen Sofía of Spain, to whom the airport is dedicated. The first flight was Iberia flight IB187 from Lanzarote, which was operated by a McDonnell Douglas DC-9 landing at 10:17.[5] The airport was constructed close to the Tomás Zerolo airfield, which closed when TFS opened.[6] By the end of its first year, 1 million passengers had passed through its doors.

In June 1980, Viasa inaugurated flights to Caracas. The link served the large proportion of the Canarian diaspora that resided in Venezuela.[7] The airline ceased operations in 1997, after which Avensa started plying the route.[8] [9] Due to financial problems, Avensa later let Santa Bárbara Airlines take over its flights to Spain and then began code-sharing on them.[10] In October 2002, Santa Bárbara commenced service to Reina Sofía Airport using a McDonnell Douglas DC-10. It switched to Tenerife North Airport four months later.[11]

United Airlines launched thrice weekly-service to Tenerife from Newark in June 2022, using a Boeing 757-200.[12]

Terminal

Tenerife South consists of one three-storey passenger terminal in a classic brick style. The main level, Floor 0, contains all check-in and service counters, the departures waiting areas as well as the arrivals and main baggage reclaim. The departures area features 40 boarding gates of which ten are equipped with jetbridges. While the upper floor 1 contains office space and transit corridors, the basement level -1 features additional luggage belts.[13]

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Tenerife South Airport:[14]

Statistics

Passengers

Passengers Aircraft movements Cargo (tonnes)
20009,111,065 62,096 12,019
20019,111,065 61,055 11,469
20028,980,465 63,527 10,769
20038,852,878 62,506 8,775
20048,632,178 62,824 9,218
20058,631,923 63,649 9,770
20068,845,668 65,774 9,414
20078,639,341 65,036 9,168
20088,251,989 60,779 8,567
20097,108,073 49,779 5,371
20107,359,150 51,858 4,293
20118,656,487 58,093 4,480
20128,530,729 56,210 3,906
20138,701,983 55,987 3,395
20149,176,274 60,290 3,376
20159,117,514 58,462 2,844
201610,472,713 65,882 2,809
201711,248,882 69,846 2,797
201811,042,481 69,910 2,483
201911,168,506 70,277 2,188
Source: Aena Statistics

Routes

Busiest international routes at Tenerife South Airport (2018)[15]
RankCityPassengers
1 Manchester, United Kingdom810,228
2 London Gatwick, United Kingdom711,364
3 London Stansted, United Kingdom354,159
4 Birmingham, United Kingdom337,548
5 East Midlands, United Kingdom329,798
6 Düsseldorf, Germany314,033
7 Brussels, Belgium274,903
8 Amsterdam, Netherlands263,368
9 Edinburgh, United Kingdom257,609
10 Newcastle, United Kingdom249,369

Car Rental Companies

Several car rental companies authorized by AENA operate at Tenerife South Airport: AutoReisen,[16] TopCar,[17] Cicar, Hertz,[18] Goldcar, Europcar, AVIS, and Sixt. All these companies are located in the arrivals halls for both domestic and international flights. There are other car rental companies operating outside the airport, but they are not authorized by AENA.[19]

*Updated as of June 2024

Ground transport

The public bus service TITSA offers services to all parts of the island. Line 343 connects the South Airport (TFS) with Tenerife North Airport (TFN). The planned Tren del Sur will serve the airport if it is built.

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Estadísticas – Aeropuertos Españoles y Navegación Aérea – aena-aeropuertos.es. Aena.es. 1 June 2015.
  2. Web site: Spanish AIP (AENA) . https://web.archive.org/web/20120307121555/http://www.aena.es/csee/Satellite?Language=EN_GB&Section=7&SiteName=NavegacionAerea&c=Page&cid=1078418725020&pagename=subHome . dead . March 7, 2012.
  3. Web site: La fiebre por cambiar los nombres de los aeropuertos en España. Tourinews. 16 March 2019 .
  4. Web site: AENA statistics for 2012. 16 February 2019.
  5. Web site: History Tenerife South Airport. Aena.es. 2012-09-25. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20120307121644/http://www.aena.es/csee/Satellite?Language=EN_GB&SiteName=TFS&c=Page&cid=1048146821188&pagename=subHome. 2012-03-07.
  6. Web site: Lorenzo . Juan Carlos Diaz . El aeródromo de El Médano, vestigio de la aviación en Tenerife . Puente de Mando – Juan Carlos Diaz . 28 February 2018 . 19 September 2020 . es-ES.
  7. News: VIASA inaugura un vuelo directo Tenerife-Caracas . El País . 24 June 1980 . 12 October 2022 . Martin, Carmelo . Spanish.
  8. . Travel hot tips . Latin Trade . 10 . 12 . December 2002.
  9. News: Viasa's Routes to Be Shared Between Venezuelan Carriers . The Wall Street Journal . 8 October 1998 . Dow Jones Newswires . 29 September 2022.
  10. News: Santa Barbara rises . Airline Business . 31 December 2002 . 12 October 2022.
  11. News: Santa Bárbara Airlines movió 19.800 pasajeros en la ruta Tenerife-Caracas-Tenerife en 2003 . Hosteltur . 20 February 2004 . 12 October 2022 . Spanish.
  12. News: Tenerife recibe el primer vuelo directo desde Nueva York de United Airlines . Europa Press . 10 June 2022 . 13 October 2022 . Spanish.
  13. Web site: Airport at Tenerife Sur. Aena.es.
  14. Web site: Airports of the World connected with: Tenerife. https://archive.today/20120724152347/http://www.aena.es/csee/Satellite?Language=EN_GB&SiteName=Destinos&c=Page&cid=1042648537487&pagename=Destinos&pestana=aena&aero=TFS&country=ES. dead. 2012-07-24. Aena.es. 2012-09-25.
  15. Web site: Aena.es. portal.aena.es.
  16. Web site: Car hire in Tenerife South Airport Autoreisen . 2024-06-20 . www.autoreisen.com.
  17. Web site: Hire . TopCar . Car hire at Tenerife South airport . 2024-06-20 . TopCar Hire . en.
  18. Web site: Tenerife South Airport Car Rental - Hertz . 2024-06-20 . www.hertz.com.
  19. Web site: Alquiler de coches Aeropuerto de Tenerife Sur Aena . 2024-06-20 . www.aena.es.